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Carey Mulligan wins Best Actress and Riz Ahmed wins Best Actor at the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards.

Nomadland and Sound of Metal win big, while Netflix's Unorthodox takes two of the ceremony's inaugural television awards.

by | April 22, 2021 | Comments

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Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman

(Photo by ©Focus Features)

Tonight, The Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out via a virtual ceremony, an unusual departure for the annual gala that typically occurs the night before the Oscars.

The pandemic may have upended the global box office and just about every ceremony — including this one — but in a year without many big-budget offerings, tonight’s winners could, more than in recent years, translate to winners at the Academy Awards on Sunday.

Tonight, Nomadland was the big winner, taking home four trophies, with Sound of Metal right behind it with three wins of its own. Chloé Zhao’s tale about van-dwelling nomads earned three  awards for Zhao herself (Best Directing, Best Editing, and Best Feature), while Riz Ahmed’s turn as a metal drummer who loses his hearing and Paul Raci’s supporting work as the counselor who helps him find sobriety and acceptance were two of the three wins for Sound of Metal.

In their inaugural year covering television, the Indie Spirits gave two awards to Unorthodox, the Netflix drama about a woman escaping her Hasidic Jewish community, while Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You won Best New Series and the jury prize of Best Scripted Ensemble.

Read on for the full list of winners at the 2021 Indie Spirit Awards.


FILM


Best Feature


Best Director

Lee Isaac Chung

Minari
98%

Emerald Fennell

Promising Young Woman
90%

Kelly Reichardt

First Cow
96%

Chloé Zhao

Nomadland
93%

Best Screenplay

Lee Isaac Chung

Minari
98%

Emerald Fennell

Promising Young Woman
90%

Mike Makowsky

Bad Education
94%

Alice Wu

The Half of It
97%

Best First Feature


Best First Screenplay

Kitty Green

The Assistant
93%

Noah Hutton

Lapsis
95%

Channing Godfrey Peoples

Miss Juneteenth
99%

Andy Siara

Palm Springs
94%

James Sweeney

Straight Up
93%

Best Male Lead

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Best Female Lead


Best Supporting Male


Best Supporting Female

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Best Cinematography

Jay Keitel

She Dies Tomorrow
84%

Shabier Kirchner

Bull
89%

Michael Latham

The Assistant
93%

Joshua James Richards

Nomadland
93%

Best International Film


Best Documentary


Best Editing

Andy Canny

The Invisible Man
91%

Merawi Gerima

Residue
94%

Chloé Zhao

Nomadland
93%

John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature Under $500,000)


Robert Altman Award (Best Ensemble)


Truer Than Fiction Award

Cecilia Aldarondo

Landfall
92%

Elegance Bratton

Pier Kids
100%

Elizabeth Lo

Stray
96%

Someone to Watch Award

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Producers Award

  • Lucas Joaquin
  • Gerry Kim – WINNER
  • Kara Durrett

TELEVISION


Best New Scripted Series


Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series


Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series

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Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series

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Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series


Thumbnail image by Amazon Studios

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